Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-03-11
THE GENERALS STORIES.
STANDARDIZATION Mess at Fort Bowie,
Arizona. Time-A Winter Night. The
General. Veteran of the Civil War,
and an Old Forty-niner, speaks.
Yes. there are many, a great many

and an Old Forty-niner, speaks.
Yes, there are many, a great many
good stories told by pioneers, some
more excellent than true. Now
Lieutenant d., down there at the
other end of the table, has a father
who tells very many excellent
stories, and he tells them so often
at the Pioneer Society's dinners
that imagine he Is beginning to
believe them himself. have new
or told this story before. 1t will ex'
plain why a common stovepipe,
like the one coming out of that
stove in the corner, is always a
grim reminder, in my eyes, of early
California days. A few years after
our occupation Of the state, | was
stationed in Southern California,
near Los Angeles, and one after
noon l strolled out to the scene OF
the Los Angeles massacre, in which
friend of NINE, a young officer,
and some enlisted men had been
killed by the Mexicans some time
before. While endeavoring to get
a good idea of the position occu-
pied by our troops 1 accidentally
stirred up the earth with my shoe,
aud looking down l saw something
glisten like gold in the sun. l
picked it up and found it to be a
human finger bone, and still on it
the West Point class-ring Of my
dead friend, marked with his name
and the date of his graduation. |
had visited his family in New Eng
land, so wrote to them, incloslng
their boys ring and explaining how
II had como into my possession. In
the course of time i received a very
grateful answer, requesting me, II
l could identify the young mans re-
mains, to have them disinterred
aud sent home. / found the re.
mains and shipped them, nicely
boxed, to the Depot Quartermas
ter, then in San Francisco, request
ing him TO hold them, as / would
come along in a month and re-shiE
them. In due time l received an
other kind letter announcing the
arrival of the remains, and the fam
ily seemed not able to thank me
enough for what had been NJ
trouble to me at all. Later on
having been granted a leave Of
absence, which / was spending IL
the East, found myself in New
York City and / received an invi
tation to visit the family again. sc
one Saturday morning l started
and reached the lovely old home
stead, which was beautifully situat
ed in q New England town. l was
Hospitality received. On the fol
lowing morning, Sunday, | was
taken to the little cemetery and
shown my friends grave, over
which had been erected beautiful
marble monument, inscribed with
his name, military history, and the
date and manner Of his DEATH
After delightful visit l left, and
my leave being up, 1 received or
ders to proceed to San Francisco to
report for duty as Depot Quarter
master. In those days Quarter
masters, when relieving each other,
were very careful to see that all
public property receipted tor, even
to the last bolt, was there in
the storehouse, before touching
pen to the receipts relieving the
other from responsibility. The
smount OF property was great, and
it took me four days to verify 1t
according TO the invoices. On the
invoices we're some original boxes
OF stovepipes, that is to say, some
which had never been opened
While going around with the Quar-
acknowledgement, on the after
noon of the fourth day, we came to
the boxes Of stoyepipes. Being orig
inal packages, l did not order them
to be opened, but satisfied myself
by moving them slightly IN order
TO see if they were Of the proper
weight. | had moved sixteen or
seventeen of them, when one SEEM
ed to be unusually light, and | d.
rected the Sergeant TO open it. He
did so; raised the lid of the box
slightly, aud looked IN. l noticed
him quickly drop the lid and start
back with a frightened look on his
face, and l said "Wbat's the mat
ter, Sergeant, isn't it all rightV
"No, sir, there's no stovepipes In
there, he half gasped out. | said
"What Is there in the box y He
SAID: "There's bones, human bones,
sir. saw a skull.7 The truth then
flashed across my mind. | had
made a mistake and had shipped
the wrong ssovepipe box to the old
homestead 10 New England. / paid
the Government the price of one
box Of st0yepipes, gave the old
Quartermaster a full receipt, had
the remains nicely buried in San
Francisco, and until this moment l
have never breathed it. But a love-
ly white marble monument in that
pretty little New England town
marks the last resting place OF my
box of stovepipes.
IL